Integral Courier 4GB USB 2.0 Pen Drive

I bought this USB key a week ago to run a personal web testing server from a I use several machines and it's easier than maintaining updates across all of them.

So far even with a whole server software setup, numerous websites and a LOT of Photoshop files, I've only managed to fill a quarter of it.

Transfer speeds are quite fast - I can back up a Gigabyte of data from it (over 20,000 files) in around 7 minutes to my hard drive and I've not had any trouble with older systems being able to recognise it unlike some other models.

On top of that, it's got loops built in to the body of the drive as well as the cap so that you can attach a lanyard if desired - a shortcoming of earlier designs was only having a loop in the lid which still allowed the device to fall off and go missing.

It doesn't come with an extension cable, but unlike chunkier designs it fits into small spaces quite easily, and it doesn't come with a lanyard, however it's really cheap, top quality construction and it looks cool. At £29.99 I'm sorely tempted to get another one just as a backup!

I'm not sure what these things are called - I've come across so many different names - so I'll call it the USB Thingy in this review (just to add to the confusion).

Anyway, I've had mine a week now, and it's a very nice piece of kit. I've also got a 1Gb USB Thingy by the same manufacturer (identical in looks apart from 1GB instead of 4GB on the case), and the detachable top of that has worked a bit loose, but the drive itself is fine.

I expect the same with the 4GB version. It reads (through a USB 2.0 port) at just under 10.5 Mbytes/sec, and writes (with one 718MB file) at about an average of 3.5MB/sec and at an average of only 1.6MB/sec with 952 little files (total 648.3MB). So, as you can see, it's rather slower at writing than reading, and even slower when writing lots of little files. So, if you want to transport lots of little files on this device, I suggest you Zip them up first.

I use mine for carrying my software utilities around with me, and as such it doesn't get written to that often. Once the initial transfer of data had been done the transfer speed isn't a problem as the occasional update only takes a few seconds.

You'd think it would/should lose a star for the slow writing rate, but this is compensated by the reliability and general sturdiness I've experienced with both this device and its (almost a year old) smaller brother. I don't use a bit of string to hang it around my neck (so worries about the robustness of the attaching ring don't apply to me), I just shove it in a trouser pocket and it's fine.

A USB Thingy that, in my experience, is well worth having.

An excellent product even after washing it in the pocket of my jeans it still works, easy to use and a handy size.